Page 70 of Inked Temptation
Not with me.
Cora bounced towards me as I got out of the truck, and I knelt down and gave her love before I stood up.
I wanted to hit something with a hammer. I just needed to work, and since it didn’t look like there had been any more vandalism since the paint, I wanted to count that as a win. Because I needed a win.
“You look like you’re having one of those days,” Penny said as she walked towards me, a plate of sugar cookies in her hand.
“Hi, Penny. Thanks for taking care of Cora. She loves the drive, but there wasn’t really a good place to keep her where I was.”
“I understand. Cora gets to speak to her ladies every time she smiles in her sleep.”
I frowned. “Penny.”
“Eat a cookie and shut the fuck up.”
My brows rose, and I reached for a cookie, freezing. “There’s nothing especially green in this, is there?”
“These are not weed sugar cookies. I would never lace something without telling you. I’m not a monster.”
“Okay.”
“But there is a sugar substitute in this. Monkfruit.”
I froze. “What?”
“You’ve had it before and didn’t know it. You love it.”
“That just completely negates what you just said.”
“I’m not putting drugs in your cookies. I’m putting sugar substitutes just to see if you can taste the difference. You couldn’t, so count that as a win. Eat.”
I took a cookie, bit into the softness of it, and nearly moaned.
“This is amazing.”
“You don’t have to growl and sound so surly about it.”
“I feel like I do.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “Not in the least.”
“Good, because you’re going to talk about it.”
“Then why did you fucking ask?”
“Because I fucking can. If you’re going to curse, so am I, dickhead.”
I looked at Penny then, threw my head back, and laughed. “You annoy me so fucking much.”
“Of course I do. It’s why you love me. Now, tell me what hurts.”
I looked at her then and then took another cookie. “Everything hurts. You know that.”
“Okay. Everything hurts. Talk to me, Killian. That’s what I’m here for.”
“You’re here for more than that, Penny.”
